A Christmas Doll
by WhiteOwl74
Summary: At a Christmas party, Marion the Banette thinks back on her first Chirstmas, with her first owner. One-shot. I don't own Pokemon. Merry Christmas everyone.


**A Christmas Doll**

**Marion reminisces on her first owner, Alice, and when they first met as her new crew celebrates the holidays. Just a cute little one-shot about the holidays. Merry Christmas folks!**

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The Banette Pokémon stood at the window, gazing out at the world of snow, as the little flakes fluttered down past the window. Her red eyes could see a small group of people walking by, dressed warmly as they sang from music books.

"Marion?" a voice asked and the Banette turned to find a teenaged girl with long black hair and green eyes standing there. She wore a green sweater with her jeans, trying to look festive for the little Christmas party she was throwing for her team. "You want to join us? Capone's going to do the eggnog chugging in a minute."

Marion smiled and said, telepathically, _"You go ahead Ali-Violet. I'll be there in a minute."_

Violet nodded and turned back to the living room, where her Honchkrow was early ready to jump into the punch bowl. "Capone! Wait for Marion; she's coming in a sec."

Marion smiled as she heard the rumble of voices of Pokémon as they chattered happily. She turned back to the window and returned to her seat at its sill. She stared at her reflection and she could see the twinkling tree behind her, covered in lights and ornaments. She could clearly remember the first time she had seen a tree like that.

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The little doll in the pretty red dress stood in the window of a toy store. It was not the most prominent doll, that spot was taken by a beautiful blonde doll that stood with a Zoroark nutcracker doll. Instead, the brown haired doll with the red dress was to the side, staring out at the crowded streets.

The streets bustled with activity, men and women pressing together as they toted along bags through the snowfall. The doll could see blinking lights from different stores. They were decorated like the window she shared, holly and ivy spread about with rows of lights sparkling all around. The doll wondered why these decorations were set up; it had been so different a few weeks ago.

A swarm of children descended on the toy store window and the doll tried to stand up straighter and smile wider. She wanted to be picked and cuddled in a child's arms, wanted to be loved and to love. She knew that the doll beside her, the blonde one, would be picked up rather quickly. She was the third one the manager had set out today. But the brown haired doll had been in the window for a whole month and had not been chosen. She figured she'd never be, but she still watched the children.

One girl, with blonde curls, gestured to the doll in the center and the brown-haired doll could almost see the doll's grin widen. A bunch of boys pointed and seemed to be shouting over a bunch of Pokémon action figures, especially the new Cobalion ones. Even the more timid girls, stared in wonder at the stuffed Pokémon shaped like Skitties and Audinos, their eyes never stopping on the brown-haired doll.

She felt sad as the children moved on, chattering happily no doubt, talking over what they were sure they were going to get. None wanted her.

She was deep in her sadness when a couple, the husband carrying a young girl with black hair, paused at the window. The man smiled happily and pointed to the window, no doubt asking his daughter what she wanted. Her mother was smiling as her daughter's eyes ran throughout the length of the window. Her green eyes locked in on the painted hazel of the brown-haired doll's. Then the girl did something so surprising, the doll would have fallen over if she could have.

The little girl smiled widely and pointed at her, ignoring the beautiful blonde doll in the center to point at the simple doll to the side.

The doll's grin stretched, she could almost feel it, as the father laughed happily and tousled the girl's hair. The couple then headed away, the doll knew that the parents preferred to buy the toys without their children watching, the girl twisting around to gaze back at her doll, her favorite doll with her wide, green eyes.

The doll wanted to leap about and dance, to celebrate her being chosen. She was so eager; she couldn't wait until one of the parents returned.

In under an hour, the father had returned and went up to the manager. The old man smiled knowingly and plucked the doll from the window display. He carefully brought her over to the counter, where the father waited. He displayed her for him to see and the father nodded. The manager gently wrapped the doll in blue tissue paper and nestled her in a box, as the father selected another outfit for the doll to wear.

Soon, the doll was waiting impatiently in her box as she was jostled along slightly as the father walked home. Her mind was on that little child, who had chosen her, from amongst all the other, far prettier dolls. After a while, a door opened, the father walked in, and set the box containing the dolls down.

O, how long the wait was for the doll! She remained in that box for what felt like ages, but was really only two days. Then, on Christmas Eve, the parents let the girl open one present before the others.

The girl chose the box wrapped in red. She eagerly removed the blue tissue paper and gave a cry of happiness when she caught sight of her doll, smiling up at her. She picked her up and hugged her happily, laughing as she twirled around with her dolly.

That night, the doll watched the evening pass in wonder. There was a large tree in the house, covered in lights and a few stacks of presents sitting beneath it. The room was decorated with holly and ivy, wreaths and pinecones, and a large table set for three sat in the dining room. The girl made a little fuss when she realized her doll would not have a seat and her parents offered to fetch her one. The girl shook her head and dragged one over by herself, setting the doll in the place of honor at her side.

At dinner, when her mother asked the girl what she was going to name the doll, she replied almost immediately, "Marion."

Marion! That was her name and the doll shivered happily as she was named.

"Well, Alice, I hope you love Marion very much," her mother said happily and the girl nodded.

Alice! So that was the name of Marion's owner! Her heart would have shuddered, if she had one.

That night, Alice climbed into bed, Marion at her side, and whispered to her for hours, telling her of Christmas and Santa Claus. Marion loved the sound of the cheerful man with his Delibird and Stantler, but was worried about the gifts he would bring. What if Alice found a newer, prettier doll amongst her gifts and forgot about Marion? The poor doll spent the rest of the night worriedly thinking while Alice fell into dreams of sugarplums and fairies.

Next morning, Alice grabbed Marion and rushed to her parents' room, flinging open the door.

"Mom! Dad! Santa was here!" she shouted as she leaped up onto the bed, waking her parents up. They laughed happily and soon, the threesome, plus Marion, was in the living room.

The present pile had grown during the night and Alice began to sort through the presents, one pile for her mommy, another for her daddy, and a large one for herself. Marion's heart would have fallen when she saw the other boxes. Surely there was a doll amongst them and surely she would be much prettier than she.

Alice ripped into the presents, Marion at her side watching in concern. Puzzles, dresses, books, and dolls clothes were discovered while Marion's fear grew. Soon, there was only a single present left, a large one, big enough for two dolls!

Alice opened the gift carefully and then dug out the gift. Inside the box…Was a tricycle! Not a doll! And oh, what a lovely trike it was! It was a shiny red with a horn, and best of all, it held a wicker basket, the perfect size to store a small doll. Marion was soon placed inside and, helmets strapped to both their heads, Alice, still clad in pajamas, led her doll outside through the snow, laughing as she peddled them forward. Her parents gave half-hearted shouts for her to return, but they smiled at their daughter as she pedaled along with her new doll.

Soon, Marion sat at her place of honor in Alice's lap for Christmas dinner with her entire family. Her girl cousins had their own dolls and Marion recognized the blonde doll from the store in one of their laps. After supper, the girls all gather around in the living room, showing off their dolls as the boys played outside in a snow battle to end all others before it.

"Her names Charlotte," the blonde doll's owner said with a slight smirk, believing she had the best present.

Marion's heart fell. It was true; Charlotte was very pretty, with forget-me-not blue eyes and her golden curls, a dress of the same shade as her eyes around her body. And here, Marion felt second place in her red dress and brown hair and hazel eyes.

That's when Alice said the best thing Marion had ever heard before.

"This is Marion, and she's the best doll ever," Alice declared, holding Marion out for her cousins. The girls tittered slightly, knowing that Alice's doll was rather simple and couldn't be the best, but Marion was pulled into an embrace by Alice and she felt the world slip away. Marion smiled happily. She knew that, someday, she would eventually be put aside, when Alice was too old for dolls. Even the pretty Charlotte couldn't stop time and she too would be put aside or even forgotten when her girl was grown and old. But for Marion, the age was still young and she felt as though she would spend many happy years with Alice yet.

Her time with Alice after the holidays was always splendid, adventures and play around every corner. But though the years were filled with fun, Marion only spent four happy years with Alice, before the accident.

Alice was only seven years old when she died, Marion in her arms, in the train wreck. That was also the day Marion started to stop believing in her best friend.

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Marion blinked away a tear as she felt her memories swirl around her. She turned back to the party, where Violet was barely holding Capone back.

"Marion! If you're joining us in the game, hurry up! We can't hold him back much longer!"

Indeed, Noctus, the Cacturne, held onto one of the Honchkrow's wings while Jewel the Sableye and Giga the Rotom tried to hold back Psycho the Spiritomb as he cackled merrily. Marion laughed and went into the living room. The next twenty minutes were a blast, as Pokémon and their trainer chugged eggnog until their stomachs ached and Noctus stumbled away to puke in the plant pot. Marion laughed as she spun around, slightly tipsy. Psycho laughed as he launched into a story about one of his past lives and told of a wonderful Christmas where he had spent the majority of it searching for the perfect gift for his wife as he returned home from the army, only to come home empty handed where his wife kissed him, his safe return home was more than enough for her. Jewel was very shy, but she tried to tell her own story about her Christmas experiences in her first life, her favorite being the time she and her family went skiing. Giga told everyone about the time he had caught a dozen girls under the mistletoe at a party. Noctus had no Christmas experience, but at Violet's begging, he told them a tale of the time he and many other Cacturnes celebrated something called "Dia de los Muertos", a festival of the dead with a merry parade and sugar skulls to eat. Capone talked about something called "First Snow" a day when he had watched his first snowfall with Violet when he was still just a Murkrow hatchling.

"You're turn Momma," he said after finishing, turning to Violet. She blushed and thought for a moment.

"Okay…I don't really have a favorite Christmas memory, but my mom and I have this tradition that after we open our presents, we place poinsettias for my father and Alice at their graves." She smiled softly. "Father liked poinsettias, apparently, and Alice loved the color red. Mother said that, one year, Alice asked for the doll in the corner window at Slater's, a simple doll all alone in a red dress. That's when Alice's favorite color started being red I think…"

Marion smiled and took a sip of her eggnog, not thinking about the next morning where she and everyone else would be nursing a hangover.

"Wadda 'bout you, Marie?" Capone asked in his afflicted accent as he chugged down another beakful of eggnog.

Marion smiled and turned her face to the Christmas tree, catching sight of the angle on top.

"_Well…My first Christmas was sort of like this…"_

And so, they spent the rest of the night swapping stories until the early morning, where Violet held her throbbing head as she passed out jars of pickle juice to the grumbling Pokémon, except Psycho, as he couldn't get a hangover, no matter how much he drank.

"Apparently, it kills a hangover," Violet said as she sipped it. Marion grimaced at the taste, but took it without complaint.

It must have been true, as soon, everyone was sitting around the tree, the dizziness gone. Marion looked at the presents happily. She didn't feel afraid of a doll being in the presents anymore. Violet passed the presents out. Jewel received a book of poems, Giga got some scrap metal and batteries (what he had wanted, he had shouted happily), Noctus studied his new pocket watch, Capone grinned a black scarf that Violet tied around his neck and Psycho…He just cackled happily as he chucked the Metronome Violet had gotten him and closed the top on his shouting, "Don't open 'till X-Mas!" But he liked his gift all the same.

Violet laughed at his antics and was about to pick up a present labeled, "For Marion," when the Banette pulled out a small box.

"_This is from all of us," _she explained, setting the box in Violet's hands.

Psycho peaked out of his box while everyone else watched Violet open her present. Her lips trembled as she pulled out an album labeled _Our Family. _Inside, were a ton of pictures, various memorabilia, and just a bunch of random, yet meaning full junk. A picture of Violet with her first Pokémon, Pen back when the Empoleon was still a Piplup on their first day on the journey, a Bidoof tooth from Chuck, a picture of Marion playing Whack-'em-Bidoof at the carnival. A picture of a sick and weak Murkrow that would someday become Capone in Violet's arms as she held a bottle to his beak. A scrap of poetry from Jewel with her picture as she stared at the camera in shock when she glanced up from her journal. Noctus and Giga restraining Psycho from attacking a group of trick-or-treaters last Halloween. Next was a picture of terrified children running away while Psycho grinned at the camera, as he ate one of the stolen sweets from the spilled bags of the kids. The last page held a picture of everybody, at Rowan's lab, grinning happily at the camera with Violet in the center, Marion on her shoulder, with all her Pokémon standing around her. The page across from it was full of paw symbols and neat writing, labeling each of the various Pokémon who had signed with their paws.

Violet wordlessly held out her arms and everyone swarmed in for a hug. Marion pressed herself against Violet's cheek and snuggled against her.

"Thank you all…So much," she whispered. She brushed away her tears, holding out Marion's present again.

"Here, it isn't much but…"

Marion opened it and stared at it with confusion. It was a little silver locket, one of those things you flicked open to put a picture. She opened it and nearly burst out crying.

On the inside was a picture of a green eyes, black haired girl holding a doll with a red dress. It was Alice, hugging Marion, back when she was a simple doll, all those years ago. The date of the picture was on Christmas Eve, Marion's first time with a friend. Marion threw herself into Violet this time and laughed happily as the memories came back again.

And so, that Christmas, a Banette remembers her old friend, yet celebrates her life with her new ones as the spirit of Christmas continued forward, leading Marion to a new start and journey with her friends, her family.

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…**Can I cry now? This only came to me an hour ago, and I had to write it. Please, tell me what you think and Merry Christmas everyone!**

**If your curious about the other Pokémon, I'll be writing their own meetings with Violet soon enough. Thanks for sticking with me. Again, I wish everyone a merry Chirstmas!**


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